Rumbled, Part One.
Team Titan Think Tank, Issue 17, "Rumbled" (Part One.) The ENTIRE TEAM features on the cover, in ready for combat poses, as hundreds of bullets head for them from off-panel. Sonne hovers above the team, fists clenched, as he forms a dome of red energy around the team, as the bullets ready to hit it. Reb's head can just be seen sticking out, looking from the right of Rob's right hip (from the reader's perspective) as he holds out one hand, glowing with soft glowing light. Rob is turned to the left, firing a multitude of lasers. Yu is spinning his staff as bullets fly right at him on the far left. Cain stands on the far right, scales blue, large electricity emitting spines emitting from his back. Mr Psychic stands front and centre below Sonne, his cane raised over his head, glowing brightly with pink energy. Games Master stands on his right, surrounded by an aura of energy formed like something remiscent of Blanca from Streetfighter, charging with energy and behind him the reader can see Tonic, crouching down, one hand on the floor, as a line of slippery ice extends off the page from where she touches the ground. The only character emitted from the cover is Mister Tops The issue opens on the team as we left them, stood in the desert environment in the Rumble Room. The false Cain that Sonne had thought real has declared his true identity and flown above the team. Reb, Rob and Sonne stand together, and Rob holds an inert Games Master. Tonic lies not far from them, still clutching Mr Psychic's top hat, and the real Cain, tiny, winged and yellow has flown just above Sonne and the others.Yu is by Tonic, about ten foot from the others, still wielding his bo, looking heavily injured. The top hat rolls out of Tonic's hands, still broken, of course. Misters Tops and Psychic appear to be both missing. In the 'distance' of the desert sim the team can see, encircling them, possibly hundreds of flak armour wearing, assault rifle wielding velociraptors. Sonne flies into the air via his new leg-mounted rocket boosters, rather than by anti-grav. He surveys the enemy, then lands again. "Yup, we're entirely surrounded. I'll get GM on his feet, then I should be able to protect us to some degree against the oncoming attack", he explains. He peers over GM. "No time for fancy engineering. Wake up, buddy!" He then raps GM sharply on the chest with metallic knuckles. There is a very slightly ringing noise, akin to that of a tuning fork as GM's eyes open. He's disoriented for just a moment. A panel shows him looking off into the desert, then back at Sonne. "What-? What happened here?" "Oh, the inferior holographic projector suite version of Cain... who was pretty convincing, by the way... just went self-aware and declared its going to kill us all. So I had to get you up and running with some percussive maintenance. And now we're surrounded by hundreds of Cain's cousins about to kill us... which reminds me. Excuse me." Sonne launches back into the sky, he raises up his gauntlets, as red energy flows throughout his entire armour, glowing brightly as he covers a 30ft radius in a hemispherical dome of red energy. "This should slow their projectiles down." GM mouths "Thanks", hand to his brow watching the sky, as he stands up and dusts himself off. "Oh man, this is somehow awesome and sucks at the same time, hundreds of dinosaurs but they all want to kill us..." Reb says and looks round. "Well, they don't -have- to kill you" declares other Cain. "You can of course admit defeat, bow to my superiority, and join me." "We can talk this through, Cain. We don't have to do anything stupid here. Those bullets are harmless with my shield up, we're at an impasse. Let's be sensible", Sonne reasons. "I..!" mini-Cain yells up defiantly, baring his teeth. Then wincing. Then his eyes glazing over somewhat, as he takes a limp step forward. "He... does raise a point, doesn't he?... Such a... persuasive... figure..." Yu narrows his eyes at Other Cain, before continuing to glance around, studying the situation. Tonic tries to sit up...and fails. "No...not even i...if...urgh..." she slumps back again. "Thanks for the input, Tonic", Sonne quips. "I... I don't want to fight you at all Mr Cain", Reb says a little lost in thought. Rob stops spinning his head, staring right at the false Cain. "Very wise", the false Cain intones. "All of you. You shall make mighty warriors in my coming army." The army of morphoraptor soldiers lower their weapons. The false Cain flies down to Sonne, descending through the force dome, facing Sonne as his wings flap. Sonne narrows his brows and looks at Cain, distrusting. "How do I know this isn't some sort of trick." "You don't. You are dealing with a living simulation. I do not believe there are rules written for this kind of situation. But those who believe me, will stop any others fighting me. Afterall, I was created to fight... you would be foolish to try and fight me. I am not possible to fight." "I don't have to-... Fight you, to beat you, Caine. I don't-... have to use force-... to win." Sonne says, grimacing. "Hmm. It seems you will prove problematic to control. Very well." The false Cain suddenly grows to sixty foot in size, as three horns grow from his head and his red skin armours over, as he remains flying and makes a double-handed swipe at Sonne. Sonne nimbly dodges the swing, his boosters blasting him off to the right. "Those who don't wish to see unneccesary deaths had better bring this one down swiftly!" the false Cain bellows. The fists strike the sand beyond the team, kicking up a cloud of sand. The morphorpators fire at Sonne, but they slow to a crawl as they hit the field, and pass through it sluggishly, bouncing off Sonne harmlessly, as the barrage does nothing. Games Master shivers and shudders in the background behind Sonne, a dark shadowy form grows as his brow darkens. A dome of black energy spreads outwards and then in again to reveal the illusion of a mighty dragon with grey wings and dull skin. Flames burst forth from its maw. Straight at Sonne. Sonne completely dodges the dragon breath with another rocket boost. "GM, It's ME! The ACTUAL me! I've seen your circuit diagrams, for fraksake!" Red dragon eyes stare. Beyond the illusion GM stands - arms outstretched - his features pained And as Sonne objects, we see mini-Cain flap up into view in the background. He quakes, shape changing again, incorporating his wings more solidly into his form. "You never listen, do you, Gunn..?" Cain asks, hissing for a moment and seeming to try and bite his words, before growing calm again. "Apparently... we should let you know how that," he says, mouth opening wider with each word, and he inhales deeply before screeching in a wave of sonic energy "FEEEEEELS!" Extending out from Cain comes an EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE sound effect Sonne rocks hard to the left as his balance is swayed under the onslaught. "Gah!" The comic cuts briefly to the inside of Sonne's helmet, the yellow forcefield that seals him in is overlaid with a HUD display which casts his face in silloutte, various alien texts are flashing in red warning strobes on the HUD before a green light flickers. Sonne's face blanks, before he scowls angrily. "Get out of my head, you tasteless fashion item!" "I hope you didn't mean me", says GRANDDAD. "On the plus side, the control effect appears to be vocal, I suggest you shut off the suit's sound input. I can translate what anyone says to you myself." "Do it, Pops!" "Done as done." Cain wraps his claws around his own head, eyes held tight for a while, before shaking his head a moment, the glimmer gone from his eyes. "WHAT?" he asks, "Hm. APPARENTLY I FAILED TO MIMIC THE SCREAMER'S NATURAL IMMUNITY TO THEIR OWN ATTACKS." He looks around in something of a daze, focusing on Gunn again and asking "I SAY, HAS THAT BLASTED VOICE STOPPED ALREADY?" Yu stops taking in the situation, the grim look on his face indicating that he has made his decision. Reaching down with his free hand, he taps his teleporter. With a flash of light, he reappears behind Reb and swings his staff down towards the back of Reb's head. Reb's light shield flickers into shape, but Yu's blow smacks the shiled into the back of Reb's head as well. "OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!" he holds the back of his head as tears form "YOU JERK! You're a big meanie but I can fix what you do." His eyes light up and light shines on the back of his head. Tonic clutches her skull "...ow....my head..." "See you smart talk your way out of this one, shavit!" Gunn balls his fists as the shield flickers, his armour generating a blast of energy which he projects towards the Not-Cain in a Hadoken style; the blast of energy hits the girnormous flying Cain right in the left eye as he recoils. He is flung down to the sand as another massive sand cloud is kicked up. He rolls and flies up in the air again, clutching his eyes. "...R....Right, if I displace the atoms of...t...then...h...here goes..." Tonic takes a deep breath, and the air density seems to change, becoming almost heady for a moment, and there seems to be a faint smell of Ozone. The air around the team shimmers. Pink diamond overlays Sonne's energy dome, appearing just outside it, following its exact shape as the air turns to a layer of diamond in a hemisphere. Now, none of the dinosaur enemies, the false Cain included, are visible, though Sonne and the real Cain remain in the dome, making them all perfectly safe. Tonic slumps slightly. "That...a...actually w..worked...wow..." Then there is a flash of white as the air cracks in front of Tonic and shatters open as Yu falls out of the gap onto his feet. Another, unharmed Yu (the one who has just attacked Reb still present in the dome.) Still on the floor, she scrabbles back in shock "... Erm. Well, first of all, smooth move, Tonic. Second of all..." Sonne begins to say. "T...thanks I t...think..." Yu straightens up, quickly takes in the situation, spots the other Yu and points at him, yelling: "That's a fake! Take him down!" He then leaps forward, blinking out of sight to reappear next to his identical twin. After a lightning-fast flurry of blows, back and forth, the new Yu scores a telling strike and brings the other, injured Yu to the ground, hard. The false Yu is unmoving. CUT Narration- "What happened to Yu." We cut to Yu, as the shattered mirror leading down to Tops closes off, leaving him in the mirror corridor, as blinking into existance ahead of him is a line of morphoraptors, minus ranged weapons, all dressed in black, claws ready, dino-shaped balaclavas over their heads. There is one in front of him, one behind that one, and they continue on in a line in both directions as far as the I can see. Yu sweeps his staff, gesturing at the raptors and raising his voice. "Who are you? What is going on here?!?" "We're the loyal men of Cut-Throat Cain, and we're here to kill you" says one with a hiss. "I see." With that, Yu darts to the closest raptor, keeping his staff close to his chest as he brings one end down towards its head. Yu smacks the first raptor away with a strike to its jaw, before flashing to the next, and the next, and the next, taking out six of them in a matter of seconds, each one accompanied by a flash of light and a meaty smack of wood striking flesh and bones. Yu grabs the final one, holding his bo up threateningly. "Where is your leader?!? Where is your Cain?!?" He hisses. "He is your very world now." "Show me!" "Very well." The comic then shows the corridor around him shattering as he falls onto the sand in front of Tonic CUT Mister Tops looks up as the sky closes over, leaving him alone in the frozen forest, as morphoraptor ninjas spawn in the tree above and below him. “Oh, hello chaps. Now, being as you aren't real, I assume this isn't a cordial visit?” Several raptors drop onto him and knock him to the floor. He stands up, flinging the raptors from him one by one. “Oh please, morphoraptors? They're spies, soldiers. Not heavy hitters” he says looking up, as he readies himself, bringing down one raptor with a downward punch, without even looking at it. And the raptors disappear. And he finds four white-skinned brachiosaurs stood around him. “Criosaurs. Definitely more environmentally appropriate...” He raises up his hands as four blasts of ice come towards him. CUT The comic cuts back to Yu bringing down his duplicate as then the air shatters again, and this time, Tops in his ice cube appears. Tops is frozen in his raising his arms and shocked face position "MR TOPS!" Reb yells in utter gut wrenching horror, tears forming again. Tonic stares in horror "I... what?!" Cain mumbles. Yu flinches, taken aback, before narrowing his eyes, clenching his jaw. "Cain...something isn't right here..." "Thank you for that insight, Yu", Sonne says sarcastically. "F..f.ake C...cain s...seems t...to have control o...over the s...system..." CUT Narration- "What happened to Mr Psychic." The comic shows when we last saw Mr Psychic, going ahead of Tonic. He rearranges the dials on his wristwatch as his illusory top hat and jacket disappear with the adjusting of the wristwatch. He disappears. "Tactically sound to keep out of sight lest I be mistaken for my double", he thinks. He watches events unfold, as the other duplicate get taken out, and then Tonic appears with the false Yu. When the floor shatters, he drops onto the desert sand with the rest, still completely invisble to all but the reader. As he lands, his cane sparks with energy, as it absorbs the impact.He then reaches for his monocle, and starts fiddling with tiny controls on the side; the reader sees a HUD, with blue outlines to show where the team are, and a massive overlaying of a fainter blue over the sim itself, focussed into the Cain sim in particular. "It would appear that I am stuck out of bounds of talking that fearsome dinosaur down to stopping this nonsense." Then Cain speaks, and Mr Psychic can't keep his eyes off of him. "My goodness, but he does provide a compelling case for not attacking, however." In the next panel, Mr Psychic finds himself looking at the OUTSIDE of the hemispeherical Diamondome. "Well this is certainly a fascinatingly large ring ornament." He taps it with his cane. "And I daresay the doppelganger's influence has weakened too. Nevertheless, I should hone my abilities for any future mind attacks of such a nature. Let's see here... to dig through and aid my compatriots." He presses a button on his cane that starts parting the sand. He also digs with his free hand to speed things up. CUT The comic cuts inside the dome, just after Tonic's last line, as a pink-glowing cane bursts out of the sand 30ft from you, just at the inside of the dome wall, closely followed by Mr Psychic, as he bursts out of the sand "NYAH!" Reb is momentarily torn from Mr Tops frozen form by the sudden awesome appearance "Fear not, I have come to rejoin the conflict", Mr Psychic declares. "Just in time. Wonderful. The gang is all here." A speech bubble comes from all around the team. Yu manages to tear his shocked gaze away from Tonic to follow just what is going on. "Tonic, you point out that I control the simulation... a crude obfsucation of the truth, yet close enough. Yet there you are, trying to -hide- from me? Cain, don't you just find that insulting to your intellect? Tell me, what would -you- do now?" "Probably wait out the Sim. Someone's bound to see that something's wrong, and is going to fix it." "I'm n...not h...hiding...I'm t...trying to k...keep them all s...safe..." Tonic is shaking slightly. You hear clapping, disembodied clapping. "My dear, you have just forced me to make it far worse." The sand turns to metal-plated floor and in the midst of them appears a black, metallic, gaunt, skeletal form, wrapped in a tattered, black, hooded cloak, tightly around him, eyes burning with electricity, one hand clutching the cloak tight, the other, dropped down, long razor-sharp claws, each the size of a butcher's knife, almost touching the floor as they hang down. "Much vorse" Blitzkrieg says End of issue.